Nine worlds of Norse myth, one road — and everything marching down it. Place towers freely instead of on a grid, counter armour, frost, fire and poison, and carry your progress from one run into the next.
Wardspire is deliberately lean: a few systems that interlock deeply. Every world teaches a new lesson — and demands an answer to it.
A real counter system
Five damage types meet resistances, armour and immunities. Spam a single tower and you hit a wall as early as Alfheim.
Free placement, no grid
No build slots: put your towers wherever there is room. The road itself stays clear — the rest of the field is yours.
Two paths per tower
From level 3 you choose: volley or precision, shrapnel or siege, frost or fire. Every choice changes the tower's role.
Several roads, one goal
Portals open one after another and merge. Each new road adds another stream — your coverage has to grow with it.
Glory, forge, armoury
Victories pay glory. In the forge you unlock towers and upgrade them permanently — every run feeds the next.
Endless, when 20 isn't enough
Endless mode never caps the wave count. A boss arrives every ten rounds, and your best wave is saved.
Arsenal
Eight towers, eight roles
None of them is an all-rounder. Pick one — the card beside it shows what it is meant for.
Scout of the palisade
Watchtower
Fast standard fire, cheap to build, available from the start.One of only two towers that hit fliers — and it mows down the rank and file everything else ignores.
Damage type
Physical
Targets
Ground & air
Unlock
From the start
Specialisations from level 3
Volley — fires at several targets at once.
Marksman — longer range, brutal critical hits.
Siege engine
Ballista
A heavy bolt with splash damage.Against dense hordes the most efficient thing in the arsenal — but it only hits what stays on the ground.
Damage type
Physical (area)
Targets
Ground only
Unlock
From the start
Specialisations from level 3
Shrapnel — wider blast radius against packs.
Siege — punches through armour, narrower radius.
Rune magic
Runestone
The only tower whose element you switch mid-game: frost or fire.That choice decides whether you stack burn damage or sidestep resistances.
Damage type
Frost or fire
Targets
Ground only
Unlock
In the forge
Specialisations from level 3
Cryomancer — rapid frost fire, constant pressure.
Pyromancer — locked to fire, but it burns far hotter.
Anti-armour
Harpoon Thrower
One hard single shot that cracks armour open.The clean answer to huskarls, trolls and golems — and a complete waste against hordes.
Damage type
Physical, armour break
Targets
Ground & air
Unlock
In the forge
Specialisations from level 3
Barbs — makes the target bleed, damage over time.
Penetration — ignores armour completely.
Control
Rime Totem
It doesn't attack a single target, it pulses in a radius.The only tower in the game that slows — and therefore hands every other tower more time to shoot.
Damage type
Frost (pulse)
Targets
Ground only
Unlock
In the forge
Specialisations from level 3
Permafrost — stronger, longer-lasting slow.
Frostburn — shorter grip, but noticeable damage.
Chain lightning
Storm Pillar
The bolt jumps from the target to the next one and loses force along the way.The tighter the pack runs, the more it gets out of them.
Damage type
Lightning
Targets
Ground only
Unlock
In the forge
Specialisations from level 3
Tempest — more jumps per shot.
Thunderclap — fewer jumps, far heavier impact.
Poison over time
Blight Totem
It stacks poison instead of killing outright.Superb against tough targets — and utterly useless against anything immune to poison.
Damage type
Poison
Targets
Ground only
Unlock
In the forge
Specialisations from level 3
Plague cloud — hits several targets at once.
Virulence — higher stacks, enemies rot faster.
Support
War Horn
It doesn't shoot at all.It raises the damage of every tower in range — and turns a good position into a great one.
Damage type
No damage of its own
Targets
—
Unlock
In the forge
Specialisations from level 3
Battle cry — stronger damage bonus in the radius.
Marching beat — adds a faster rate of fire on top.
Aid from Asgard
Favor of the Gods
Four gods stand with you in battle. Each favor is an active ability on a cooldown — you decide when and where.
Thor
Mjölnir Throw
The hammer sweeps along the path through the enemy ranks — and strikes a second time on its way back.
Skadi
Skadi's Hunting Ground
A snowstorm claims a stretch of the path: whoever crosses it is slowed and suffers for as long as the storm stands.
Eir
Eir's Watch
For a brief moment her shield holds the gate — breakthroughs cost no lives. Called at the right instant, she saves everything.
Odin
Odin's Gaze
His ravens mark the foe: marked enemies take extra damage from every tower. Save it for the boss.
Favor awakens with your deeds: the first victory over a world's final boss earns an offering (Blót) — and for offerings, the gods grant their favor.
In the demo Eir's Watch is playable and the other three can already be seen. All four are part of the full version.
Names and numbers may still change.
From Hard on, every tower at level 3 also gains a rune socket.
From difficulty Hard
Runes
A tower at level 3 takes one rune and changes the way it fights. Socketing is free, swapping costs gold.
Fire Rune
Hits may set the target ablaze.
Chain Rune
Shots arc to one more target. Marksman towers only.
Splinter Rune
Impacts shatter and catch the bystanders too.
Gold Rune
Kills by this tower grant more gold.
Might Rune
More damage at a slower rate of fire.
Eagle Rune
Considerably more range at slightly lower damage.
Haste Rune
Faster rate of fire at slightly lower damage.
Crit Rune
More frequent critical hits.
Blood Rune
Hits may leave the target bleeding.
Poison Rune
Hits may poison the target.
Headsman's Rune
Badly wounded enemies drop at once. Bosses do not.
Soul Rune
The first time this tower hits a boss in a wave, you get a life back.
All twelve runes are part of the full version. Their exact effect is settled during balancing.
Runes are unlocked in the forge. They only apply from difficulty Hard upwards.
Normal stays deliberately rune-free.
Replay value
Three difficulties
The campaign is built around Normal and fully playable there. Hard unlocks once you have beaten Asgard on Normal, Nightmare after Asgard on Hard.
I
Normal
The calibrated campaign: nine worlds, each asking more of you than the last. No runes.
II
Hard
Tougher enemies, more elites and more randomness in the waves. And runes enter the game.
III
Nightmare
Tougher still, plus announced mutators: selected waves gain one extra trait across the board, shown in the wave preview beforehand.
In the demo only Normal is playable. Hard is part of the full version. Whether Nightmare arrives with 1.0 or shortly after is not decided yet. Endless mode comes with the full version, on every map.
Campaign
Nine worlds on Yggdrasil
Every world has its own biome, its own danger, and at the end of the twentieth wave a boss that punishes exactly what you neglected on the way there.
I
Midgard
Green meadow · realm of men
The lesson: hordes, one road, armour only late on.
Boss Jarl
II
Alfheim
Bright elven forest
A second road opens — and the first ravens come in over it.
Boss Elf Lord
III
Vanaheim
Marshes & fertile water
Few enemies, but heavy ones. Build for numbers and you stall here.
Boss Vanir Guardian
IV
Nidavellir
Dwarven mines · underground
Stone and ore. Turn up with the starter pair and you only scratch the plating.
Boss ???
V
Jötunheim
Mountains & rock
Giants, tight ledges, little space to build. Every position counts double.
Boss ???
VI
Niflheim
Ice, mist, frost
Ice trolls — and somewhere behind them, someone keeps patching them up.
Boss ???
VII
Muspelheim
Fire, lava, basalt
Nothing burns here any more. Build on flames and you watch them fizzle.
Boss ???
VIII
Helheim
Realm of the dead
Draugr split when they die. And what worked elsewhere leaves them cold.
Boss ???
IX
Asgard
Golden god-fortress · finale
Everything at once. Standing here means you learned every lesson of the eight worlds before.
Boss ???
What comes at you
Bestiary
Eight base types — plus elite ranks and random traits that make the same wave look different every time.
Raider
The backbone of every wave. Fast enough to hurt in numbers.
Berserker
Runs at the front, dies fast — if you catch him first.
Huskarl
Shield bearer. Without armour break half your field chews on him.
Völva
Heals the most wounded around her. Rare, but she decides waves.
Draugr
Breaks into two draugling when killed. A kill is never just a kill.
Raven
Flies straight over the switchbacks. Only two towers can reach it.
Ice Gryphon
The heavy flier. Anti-air stops being an afterthought here.
Ice Troll
Slow, armoured, unpleasantly tough. The reason the harpoon exists.
Then there is rank — the same creature, three steps harder:
Elite
Veteran
Einherjar
+ random traits: swift, armoured, regenerating, giant, frenzied
Wave 20
Nine final bosses
Every world ends on wave 20 with a boss of its own — and it has to fall. Let it through and the run is lost, no matter how many lives are left.
Midgard
Jarl
Alfheim
Elf Lord
Vanaheim
Vanir Guardian
?
Nidavellir
???
?
Jötunheim
???
?
Niflheim
???
?
Muspelheim
???
?
Helheim
???
?
Asgard
???
We show the wardens of the first three worlds, you meet them in the demo too. Who comes after is not for this page to tell. The archive in the game, too, reveals a boss only once you have faced it.
Take a look
Gallery
The trailer and nine shots from the game as it plays. Click one for the full view.
Just under two minutes of gameplay, with sound.
Screenshot 1/9 · Midgard · wave choice: Ordinary Wave or Iron Wall
Screenshot 2/9 · Alfheim · battle on the forest path
Screenshot 7/9 · Helheim · Sacrifice: a tower releases all its power at once
Screenshot 8/9 · Archive · look up your foes
Screenshot 9/9 · Choose Level · nine worlds
Development
Where the game stands
Wardspire is a solo project. What is finished is on this page — the rest grows step by step, and you can follow it in the workshop notes.
Done
Content is in
8 towers, 17 enemies and all 9 worlds are built, animated and playable, including the roguelite meta layer and endless mode. Plus 25 achievements and Steam Cloud, both part of the full version.
Now · v0.13.0
Demo & balance
The demo for Windows and Linux has been on Steam since late August and covers the first three worlds. The October update gives Alfheim a character of its own: some enemies there dodge arrows and bolts (Elf-Swift), while magic always hits. Poison now halves all healing. The campaign on Normal is played through and tuned, so Hard and Nightmare are next.
October 2026
Steam Next Fest
A public demo week with plenty of outside feedback.
November 2026
Release 1.0
Full version with all nine worlds, higher difficulties and the rune branch of the forge.
Roadmap
What comes next
The plan for the coming months, ordered by how close it is rather than by date. What is already finished is in the timeline above.
In progress
Demo and polish
What is actually being worked on right now.
Tuning Hard and Nightmare on real playthroughs, Normal is done
Preparing the demo week for Steam Next Fest
Working in the feedback from the demo
Next up
On the way to 1.0
The big building blocks are in. Now it is about tuning and everything around them.
Balancing the new systems: wave choice, sacrifice, Favor of the Gods
Polish: effects, pacing and feedback in battle
Finishing the proofreading of Russian and Chinese
With version 1.0
What 1.0 brings
Everything beyond the three worlds of the demo.
All nine worlds instead of the first three
Higher difficulties: Hard, with Nightmare arriving at 1.0 or shortly after
Twelve runes for upgraded towers, from Hard upwards
Endless mode on every map
Fusing two towers into a new one
The favor of all four gods, not just Eir's Watch
A plan, not a promise: order and scope may still change. What is genuinely finished is in the timeline above.
Demo · out now on Steam
Play the first worlds
The demo includes the first three worlds along with the forge, glory progression and Eir's Watch as your first Favor of the Gods.
Feedback goes straight out from the pause menu via “Report a bug”.
Rough figures for the demo. 2D, no heavy effects — it runs on older machines too.
Minimum
Operating system
Windows 10 (64-bit) · Linux x86_64
Processor
Dual core, 2 GHz
Memory
2 GB RAM
Graphics
OpenGL 3.3 (integrated is fine)
Storage
500 MB
Recommended
Recommended
Operating system
Windows 11 (64-bit) · Linux x86_64
Processor
Quad core, 2.5 GHz
Memory
4 GB RAM
Graphics
Dedicated GPU for smooth 1080p
Storage
500 MB
Runs at 1080p with fullscreen, a frame rate cap and a low-power mode for weak graphics chips. Six languages: German, English, French, Spanish, Russian, Simplified Chinese.
